Call To Worship:Elijah MeditationFound in "Meeting God" in He Was in the World by John L. Bell, Wild Goose Publications, 1995, ISBN 094798870X, page 67 (pictured at left)Opening Response: In Quietness and DarknessFound in Present on Earthby The Wild Goose Worship Group, Wild Goose Publications, 20028, ISBN 0901557642, page 32 (pictured at right)

Listening song: Deep Calling DeepBy Margaret Becker (and Charlie Peacock) on her album Grace or on WOW 1996 (pictured in an earlier blog)

Prayer: Psalm 42 or 43Have Psalm 42 or 43 on a screen or on a handout for everybody. Ask people to work in groups of three or four and write a two sentence prayer together. Have the first sentence describe something that makes our hearts seethe in turmoil (43:5 and a number of other verses in both psalms) and the second sentence ask God for forgiveness or help with this. Depending on the size of your congregation, either ask one person from each group to read out their prayer for the benefit of all or ask for five or six groups to volunteer to share their prayers.

Poem: Listeningby Brian Wren and found inResources for Preaching and Worship - Year C compiled by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, ISBN 066422508X, page 194 (pictured in an earlier blog). This works really well with projected images and music.

I Kings Reading:The verses of the old chorus Be Still and Know That I am God fit well with this reading. Have pauses in the reading where the relevant verse is sung.

Theme Idea: Time Out: God Restores Us...1. When Others Hurt Us: Use the story of Elijah found in 1 Kings 19.2. When We Hurt Ourselves: Use the story of Johnny Cash in the Nickajack Cave found in Spiritual Journeys by Jason Boyett, Relevant Books, 2003, ISBN 0972927603, page 13 (pictured at right)3. When We Hurt for No Apparent Reason: Use the Luke story.

Quote: Mother Teresa"We all long for heaven where God is but we have it in our power to be in heaven with Him right now - to be happy with Him at this very moment. But being happy with him now means: loving as He loves, helping as He helps, giving as He gives, serving as He serves, rescuing as He rescues, being with him for all the twenty four hours, touching Him in His distressing disguise. (A Gift For God)

Adult Response: Time OutThis will only work in places where you have available a sweet/lolly/candy (whatever your word is) called a Time Out. They come in two sizes here in Australia and I bought enough of the small ones so that everyone in the congregation could have one. Then I said something alone the lines of:These readings challenge us in two ways;1. They encourage us to take time out to spend time with God. God wants us to know that time spent seeking God, saying what is on our minds and revealing how we are feeling is not time wasted. The challenge for us is to make the time. Take the Time Out home, find a space in your day, and as you eat the Time Out, spend time with God. Make sure you put the empty wrapper somewhere where it will remind to take time out for God.2. In each story the person is encouraged to go back into their communities to share their experience of god with others. When you sit at home in your small quiet space with God and your Time Out, remember to listen to God and discover where God is calling you to share your particular experiences.

1 comment:

I value your weekly suggestions as I put together activity sheets for our children aged 6 to 14. Last week's questions were really helpful, and this week's idea of Time Out ties in nicely with our ongoing conversations about prayer. We have a time of silence during our service (10 minutes) - and sending home this gaudy wrapper to pin up is a terrific way to remind them (us) of the value of silence during the week, too. Many thanks. Alison Sampson, for the South Yarra Community Baptist Church (www.laughingbird.net)

Cluster map

About Me

I am married to Joe and have two great kids - Jared, 32 and Kate 29. I am an ordained Minister of the Word in parish ministry in the Uniting Church in Australia. I have a passion for Contemporary Worship (whatever that means) and have set up this blog in order to share resources which I have found interesting and exciting. You can find my email address in my complete profile.